Methods of treating cancer with an antibody-drug conjugate

1. An antibody-drug conjugate comprising the structure:

wherein

A is a member selected from substituted or unsubstituted phenyl and substituted or unsubstituted pyrrole;

Z is a member selected from O, S and NR 23 ;

X is a member selected from O, S and NR 23 ,

wherein

R 23 is a member selected from H, substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, substituted or unsubstituted heteroalkyl, and acyl;

R 11 is a pro-drug substituent that is labile under physiological conditions to release R 11 ;

R 4 and R 5 are members independently selected from H, substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl, substituted or unsubstituted heterocycloalkyl, halogen, NO2, NR 15 R 16 , NC(O)R 15 , OC(O)NR 15 R 16 , OC(O)OR 15 , C(O)R 15 , SR 15 , and OR 15 ,

wherein

R 15 and R 16 are independently selected from H, substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, substituted or unsubstituted heteroalkyl, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl, substituted or unsubstituted heterocycloalkyl and substituted or unsubstituted peptidyl, or R 15 and R 16 together with the nitrogen atom to which they are attached are joined to form a substituted or unsubstituted heterocycloalkyl ring system having from 4 to 6 members; and

R 7 is CH 2 —X 1 , wherein X 1 is a leaving group;

and wherein one of R 4 , R 5 , R 15 or R 16 comprises a cleavable linker and an antibody, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof,

wherein the cleavable linker comprises

wherein

L 3 is a linker, attached to the antibody, which is selected from substituted or unsubstituted C 1-20 alkyl and substituted or unsubstituted C 1-20 heteroalkyl groups;

AA 1 , AA c and AA c+1 are members independently selected from natural and unnatural a-amino acids;

L 4 is a linker selected from substituted or unsubstituted C 1-20 alkyl, substituted or unsubstituted C 1-20 heteroalkyl groups, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl, and substituted or unsubstituted cycloalkyl;

p and t are integers independently selected from 0 and 1; and

c is an integer from 0 to 20.

2. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein A is unsubstituted phenyl.

3. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 2 , wherein Z is a member selected from O and NH and X is O.

4. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein

L 3 is a linker, attached to the antibody, which is selected from substituted or unsubstituted C 1-6 alkyl and substituted or unsubstituted C 1-6 heteroalkyl groups;

AA 1 , AA c and AA c+1 are members independently selected from natural and unnatural α-amino acids;

L 4 is a linker selected from substituted or unsubstituted aryl, substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl; and

c is an integer from 0 to 5.

5. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein

A is a member selected from substituted or unsubstituted phenyl;

Z is a member selected from O, and NR 23 ;

X is a member selected from O,

R 23 is H;

R 4 and R 5 are members independently selected from H, NR 15 R 16 , NC(O)R 15 , and OC(O)NR 15 R 16 .

6. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein Z is NH.

7. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein R 4 is H and R 5 is NR 15 R 16 .

8. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein R 15 is H and R 16 is

9. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein R 11 is

10. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein L 4 is selected from the group consisting of

11. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein L 4 is

12. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein p is 1 and t is 1.

13. The antibody-drug conjugate of claim 1 , wherein c is 0 to 2.

14. A method of treating a cancer, the method comprising:

administering to a patient an effective amount of an antibody-drug conjugate according to claim 1 , wherein the antibody-drug conjugate comprises an antibody, a drug, a cleavable linker coupling the antibody to the drug, and a pro-drug substituent attached to the drug at a site different from the cleavable linker;

wherein the antibody is configured and arranged to specifically bind to an antigen expressed by cells of the cancer,

the drug is releasable from the antibody at or near a cell of the cancer by enzymatic cleavage of the cleavable linker, and

the pro-drug substituent is labile under physiological conditions and releasable in vivo;

wherein the drug, when released in vivo by the cleavable linker and the pro-drug substituent, is cytotoxic to the cell of the cancer.

15. A method of reducing the toxic side effects of administering a drug to treat cancer, the method comprising:

administering to a patient an effective amount of an antibody-drug conjugate according to claim 1 , wherein the antibody-drug conjugate comprises an antibody, the drug, a cleavable linker coupling the antibody to the drug, and a pro-drug substituent attached to the drug at a site different from the cleavable linker;

wherein the antibody is configured and arranged to specifically bind to an antigen expressed by cells of the cancer,

the drug is releasable from the antibody at or near a cell of the cancer by enzymatic cleavage of the cleavable linker, and

the pro-drug substituent is labile under physiological conditions and releasable in vivo;

wherein the drug, when released in vivo by the cleavable linker and the pro-drug substituent, is cytotoxic to the cell of the cancer.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the drug alkylates DNA of the cancer cells.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein A is unsubstituted phenyl.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein Z is a member selected from O and NH and X is O.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein

L 3 is a linker attaching to the antibody which is selected from substituted or unsubstituted C 1-6 alkyl and substituted or unsubstituted C 1-6 heteroalkyl groups;

L 4 is a linker selected from substituted or unsubstituted aryl, substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl; and

c is an integer from 0 to 5.